Quilt-as-you-go gifts

Can I make something with leftover strips from other projects, one long strip of batting, and assorted leftover binding? That was my question when I went into my quilt room today.

I had recently read (yep, I read quilt books cover-to-cover!) a book by Gudrun Erla entitled Learn to Quilt-As-You-Go  (which Martingale sent me for review) featuring 14 beautiful projects. I thought that this would be a great time to make one of them as I only had a couple of hours in my quilting room.

First, I revisited the Quilt-As-You-Go Method section at the end of the book to make sure I had everything I needed and knew what to do. Gudrun’s directions were excellent so I quickly prepared the strips, backing fabric, batting and started stitching. Then, inspired by one of Gudrun’s ideas I turned the quilted strip into my own projects:

The first, pictured above, is a set of mug rugs which I am calling Very Berry. I still had the template from when I made the  Berry Sweet Bags from Fig Tree & Co. (you can see the bags here) and knew it would be perfect for mug rugs. They measure 9.5″ by 8.5″. I am loving them!

From the same long strip I then made this other set of mug rugs. There was no way I was going to bind those many curves… that is why I did the next best thing: first I topstitched about 1/4″ inside the outline of the shapes, then using my rotary cutter with the wavy blade I cut on the outline, and finally I topstitched again. The largest measures 9.5″ across, the medium size measures 7.5″, and the smalles one is 6.5″.

Since I was quilting as I was stitching the strips, the mug rugs came together really fast. As soon as I have another block of hours, I will make one of these from Gudrun’s book:

Aren’t they amazing? I have some orphan blocks and a lot more strips which I will turn into wall hangings, table runners, place mats… perfect as gifts, too.

I am thinking I will wrap the mug rugs up and put them under our Christmas tree! What do you think?

Have a fun day,